FunctionalAmbivalent

Essay Question

When the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal broke, the official Executive Branch explanation was that it was an isolated set of incidents committed by a small group of out-of-control enlisted personnel. It is becoming increasingly clear that, in fact, prisoner abuse was widespread and sanctioned by civilians very high in the Executive Branch, particularly Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and lawyers in both the Department of Justice and Vice President's office.

So here's the question: In what sense does jailing soldiers for following the orders of their Executive Branch superiors constitute supporting the troops?

The Answer Is, of Course, That They're Oblivious To Their Own Hypocrisy

How are Republicans going to sell John McCain's bravery in North Vietnamese captivity without highlighting that some of the torture techniques used on McCain are also a part of the Republican anti-terror agenda?

CLARIFICATION: The salient portion of the linked-to op-ed is stress positions, not the breaking of bones.

And, to head off the next Republican argument, just because what you're doing isn't as bad as what someone else has done, that doesn't make it good.

Someone Ought To Ask McCain If He Still Thinks Campaign Finance "Reform" Was a Good Idea

John McCain, who is running at least partly on his history as a politician above politics, a straight-shooter who has fought to get big money out of politics, has figured out a way to get big money back into politics. His plan directly subverts the McCain-Feingold campaign finance laws McCain fought so sanctimoniously for.

The McCain campaign has established several fund-raising accounts that will collect large donations from wealthy individuals and parcel them out to national and state Republican parties that can spend the money to help Sen. McCain and other Republican candidates.

The fund-raising accounts, which will supplement his existing fund-raising efforts, will give the Arizona senator the "ability to raise much faster larger sums of money," said campaign manager Rick Davis, who outlined the plan for reporters Friday.

Individuals are limited by McCain's formerly beloved campaign finance laws to contributions of $4,600 per campaign, per election cycle. This new strategy will allow individuals to grease McCain's outstretched palm with up to $70,000.

Anti-Gay Crusaders Aren't the Only Closet Cases

Last year, Memphis police Sergeant Brady Valentine won an award for being Tennessee's Narcotics Officer of the Year.

"These awards are a testament to the hard work done every day by agents assigned to the task force and the Interdiction Unit," District Attorney Bill Gibbons said in a release. "The task force plays an important role in making our streets safer, and the agents deserve this recognition."

Last week,  Sgt. Valentine was indicted for drug trafficking.

According to an affidavit, Valentine received regular payments from drug dealers for three years in exchange for assisting the movement of one marijuana shipment per month. The arrangement ended in 2000 when one of the traffickers' associates was arrested.

An informant said Valentine also worked with him in the spring and summer of this year in buying and distributing anabolic steroids.

For added frisson, here's a machine gun collector's website where someone named Brady Valentine with a Memphis email address seeks a reference on gun dealer. He's trying to buy an Uzi.

Well, It's Come To This

What passes for American leadership:

Judge Michael Mukasey's nomination for attorney general ran into trouble Thursday when two top Senate Democrats said their votes hinge on whether he will say on the record that an interrogation technique that simulates drowning is torture.

So, to recap: We're all to laud the courage of previously weak-kneed Democrats -- or, at least, two of them -- who are demanding that a Republican nominee for Attorney General declare the obvious. And Republicans are so depraved that they can't do it. Standing in front of the American flag, they're so devoted to their party and their power and their fear that they can't say what every single person in the world knows to be true.

Waterboarding is torture.

If Mukasey won't say that publicly, the Senate shouldn't even bring his nomination up for a vote.
And if the Senate confirms him without that declaration, this country is done.

Rudy and the Universal Excuse

Rudy Giuliani has a lot of flip-flopping to do if he's going to get in line with Republican dogma before the primaries.

Speaking before the National Rifle Association, forceful gun control advocate and former anti-gun litigant Giuliani explained his sudden and convenient conversion to pro-gun Republican orthodoxy not a matter of craven political expediency, but as a result of that about which he most likes to talk:

..."intervening events" like September 11th had caused his views to evolve.

Of course they did. How could you witness 9/11 without reaching the entirely logical conclusion that what we need to do is loosen our gun control laws? If the other candidates had been there, as he was, they'd know, as he does, that if more people on the streets of New York had been packin', those planes would never have made it to the World Trade Center.

Be prepared for Rudy to make the same argument as he abandons long-held positions on other contentious issues:

"Having witnessed the horror of 9/11, I could not help but rethink my belief that women should control their own reproductive destinies."

"Had I known then what I had known now, I would never have had as many extramarital affairs as I did."

"I concluded that the best thing I could do for my country was to make a bunch of money as a shill for vile foreign entities."

And my own personal favorite:

"I abandoned my combover as a tribute to those trapped on the upper floors."

It's the all-weather excuse for Rudy's political expediency: 9/11 changed everything.

I predict that by the end of this, people will be as sick of Rudy reminding them about 9/11 as they were of John Kerry flogging his medals.

Above the Law

Congress, which is outraged at the Bush Administration's expansive definition of Executive Privilege, is refusing to honor subpoenas delivered to House members.

Acting on advice of the House general counsel, all 13 members of Congress who have been subpoenaed for documents and testimony by the lawyer for a man accused of bribing jailed former Congressman Rep. Duke Cunningham will refuse to comply.

The assertion of a broad Congressional Privilege to not be answerable to courts is as nutty as the Bush Administration's assertion of limitless executive power.

Do any of our politicians think they're subject to the law? Do we need to throw them all out and start over?

Remember How Republicans Mocked John Kerry for Speaking French?

Mitt Romney speaks French.

I'll just sit here and await the snotty remarks from Trent Lott, Rush Limbaugh and others.

Organized Labor Surrenders Whatever High Ground It Still Retained

The Washington Post reports that unions are hiring homeless people to picket, since union members on strike apparently have better things to do with their time.

Carpenters locals across the country are outsourcing their picket lines, hiring the homeless, students, retirees and day laborers to get their message across. Larry Hujo, a spokesman for the Indiana-Kentucky Regional Council of Carpenters, calls it a "shift in the paradigm" of picketing.

Hirelings are paid $8 an hour with no job benefits or security.

For Those of You Keeping Score At Home...

Another radical, socially conservative, religiously smug busybody bites...well, it's apparently not exactly "the dust" he was biting:

Former state legislator Coy C. Privette, a Cabarrus County (North Carolina) commissioner and retired Baptist minister...was charged with six counts of misdemeanor aiding and abetting prostitution by renting a hotel room and paying for sexual acts, according to State Bureau of Investigation Agent Kevin Canty.

This is entertaining because:

Privette also serves as the president of the Christian Action League of North Carolina, which advocates in the General Assembly for Christian groups, and he’s a member of the Cabarrus Baptist Association. Privette has been one of the state's most vocal opponents against alcohol sales and legal gambling.

Remember when Republicans positioned themselves as "The Values Party"? Funny how you don't hear a lot about that these days, isn't it?

To see a picture of the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners -- including, for now, a distinctly creepy looking Privette -- click here.